Top 6 Solutions to Can’t Add Videos to iTunes for Syncing

You can transfer videos from computer to iPhone by adding them to iTunes first and letting them be synced to your iPhone. Therefore, you can enjoy music videos from CD or movies downloaded from computer wherever you go.

However, iTunes may not always work as properly as you expected. If you can’t add videos to iTunes library, you may come to the right place. Just try the six solutions in this guide to get yourself out of the issue.

Why you can’t add videos to iTunes?

It’s a common issue that you can’t add videos from PC to iTunes library. Before every specific solution, you’re suggested to learn about the causes of the issue, which may be helpful for you to better troubleshoot.

• The video format isn’t compatible with iTunes.
iTunes supports the video format including M4V, MOV, and MP4. As for MP4 format, iTunes supports only a few MP4 file codes like MPEG-4, H.264, and AAC.

• The transferred files are saved somewhere else.
Since iTunes 11, the videos that aren’t purchased from iTunes Store are saved in Home Videos under Movies instead of My Movies.

• The version of iTunes is outdated.
An outdated iTunes always results from kinds of bugs. Therefore, you always need to keep your iTunes up to date.

6 quick fixes to the “can’t add videos to iTunes” issue

You can try the five fixes to troubleshoot the issue one after another until you can add videos or movies to iTunes. Optionally, to resolve your urgent needs, you can try a better way in the next part to transfer videos from computer to iPhone.

1# Check your file format

Before adding videos to iTunes, you need to check whether the format of your videos is compatible with iTunes. If necessary, you may rely on video conversion software such as Adapter to help you convert video files.

2# Uncheck Read Only option

Another scenario to consider is incorrect video input property settings. It usually happens on a Windows computer. Therefore, you can check your video source first before trying the fixes listed below.

Simply go to the video you can't add to iTunes > Right click on the video > Click Properties > Make sure the option Read Only at the attribute column is unchecked. 

3# Update iTunes to the latest version

As mentioned before, an outdated iTunes can cause unexpected errors, which may make you cannot add videos to iTunes library.

Just in case, you can run iTunes on your computer > Click Help from the menu bar > Select Check for Updates. If there is a new version of iTunes available, follow the onscreen instruction to update it.

4# Sign out & in your account

Sometimes, iTunes may make you add video to iTunes but nothing happens for no reason. It’s worth trying to refresh iTunes service by signing out your account and signing in again in a few minutes. Just go iTunes > Click Account > Sign out to log out your account > Wait for a while and click Sign in to log in with your account.

Now, add videos to iTunes again to check whether your issue gets fixed.

5# Check if the videos have been added

What if the videos have been added to iTunes but you fail to find them? Or if the videos have been saved in iTunes, iTunes doesn’t allow you to add them again, which makes you feel getting stuck in the error.

You can just run iTunes and select Recently Added under Library category to have a look.

6# Try the Automatically Add to iTunes function

Actually, iTunes provides you with two ways to add media files to its library. When you still can't add videos to iTunes library, the little-known iTunes function - Automatically Add to iTunes may be a nice try for you. Here are the simple steps to add videos to iTunes with the Automatically Add to iTunes folder.

Step 1. Run iTunes > Locate the folder by visiting ~/Music/iTunes/iTunes Music folder or under ~/Music/iTunes/iTunes Media on your computer.

Step 2. Choose the Automatically Add to iTunes folder > Drag-and-Drop the wanted videos to the folder.

Now, the videos should be automatically and instantly added to iTunes. If not, close iTunes and relaunch it.

Bonus: Transfer videos to iDevices from PC without adding to iTunes

In fact, you can transfer videos from computer to iOS devices directly without adding them to iTunes. What you need is just a transfer tool and FoneTool may be one of the most professional tools for you.

What FoneTool offers you:
✔ Visual and selective transfer process. You’re free to preview and choose the wanted videos to transfer to your iOS devices in one click.
✔ Flexible transfer functions. Besides transferring files from computer to iDevices, you’re free to transfer from iDevices to computer and iDevice to iDevice as well.
✔ More video format supported. FoneTool fully supports you transferring videos in .mov .mp4 .m4v. format from PC to iPhone, and vice versa.
✔ No data loss. Data transfer using FoneTool doesn't overwrite or delete any files on your iPhone/iPad. And videos will be transferred to iDevices with their original quality.
✔ Wide compatibility. FoneTool can work well with iPhone (from iPhone 4 to the latest iPhone 15), as well as different models of iPad and iPod.

Get the tool on your computer by clicking the icon below. Let’s transfer videos from PC to iOS device with no effort.

Step 1. Connect your iDevices to computer with USB > Launch FoneTool and click Phone Transfer from its homepage > Choose PC to iPhone and click Start Transfer.

Step 2. Click the folder icon to add videos from computer > Click Open to add them to the box. You can also drag-and-drop the wanted videos to the box directly.

Step 3. Check the videos that are going to transfer > Choose an app that you want to save the videos in > Click Start Transfer to start the task.

If you add videos to iTunes for the sake of backing up, the Custom Backup function in FoneTool can also offer you fabulous service to backup videos to computer.

Conclusion

Hope the five solutions in this guide can help you out. To avoid “can’t add videos to iTunes” and any other iTunes problems, it is suggested to try its alternative - FoneTool to share files among iOS devices and computer with no effort.